Saudi Arabia Warns of Economic Fallout if Congress Passes 9/11 Bill

[MowCowWhoHow III]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Obama administration has lobbied Congress to block the bill’s passage, according to administration officials and congressional aides from both parties, and the Saudi threats have been the subject of intense discussions in recent weeks between lawmakers and officials from the State Department and the Pentagon. The officials have warned senators of diplomatic and economic fallout from the legislation.

Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, delivered the kingdom’s message personally last month during a trip to Washington, telling lawmakers that Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts.

Several outside economists are skeptical that the Saudis will follow through, saying that such a sell-off would be difficult to execute and would end up crippling the kingdom’s economy. But the threat is another sign of the escalating tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/16/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-warns-ofeconomic-fallout-if-congress-passes-9-11-bill.html?mwrsm=Email

[Scootaloo]

1. I say call their bluff.

1) They won't do it. It's self-injurious. It would hurt Saudi Arabia vastly more than it would hurt us - after all, our assets would still be in the market, and Saudi Arabia will have basically burned its treasury. it will have also burned bridges - a show of bad faith like that is a big warning sign for anyone else looking to do business with them.

2) They can't, logistically. it takes a pretty long time to find buyers for seven hundred billion in assets.

3) fuck Saudi Arabia. Mostly this.

[Hulk]

2. Good! Get their evil asses out of this country!

We'll take our chances on this one. I'm guessing the Waltons and China would scarf up the bargain basement sales. Go for it, you disgusting swine.

[SoapBox]

3. How lovely! What is is...Blackmail or extortion?

Fuck these assholes.

[christx30]

4. Wouldn't be much of a stretch to call it

economic terrorism.
Just sayin'.

[Rod Beauvex]

31. Savage.

[billhicks76]

6. So What. Fuck Them...Fuck Bush and his friends

[Dustlawyer]

48. Bush and his Texas oil friends would love this as the price of oil would sky rocket.

This is why Cornyn is the co-sponsor and Schumer is a Wall Street Toady. They are hurting real bad down here right now. Once again the action is all about oil and not the victims and the fact that 9/11 gave us the Patriot Act and Homeland Security.

If we get facts as to exactly who funded and protected these terrorists, then we address it based on that. This is a transparent attempt to get the Saudis to restrict their oil production to raise prices.

The politicians make their Donors happy and look patriotic doing it. Once again the victims of 9/11 are being used for political gain! These assholes have zero shame!

[TeamPooka]

7. Divest Saudis. I dare you. nt

[rpannier]

8. Bipartisanship I can support

Pass it

[Geronimoe]

9. And America can threaten

to stop selling them weapons and US soldiers discontinue being their mercenaries.

[silverweb]

10. We should do that, anyway!

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Not threaten to do it, but DO it.

[paulthompson]

11. Gee, that sure doesn't make them look guilty

If they're not to blame at all, why should they care if this bill passes or not? Their extreme reactions speaks volumes.

[LittleGirl]

55. +1 n/t

[Lunabell]

12. Fuck Saudi Arabia

They were complicit!

[Stevepol]

13. I think 9/11 was planned from Saudie Arabia,

not from the ruling class necessarily but from some cabal or group close to the monarchs in some way. Why else were nearly all the criminals who pulled off 9/11 Saudis?

The fundamentalist Wahabism that has taken over the Saudi brand of Islam is causing a lot of stuff under the cover of a primarily peaceful religion. It's like the racism in the American South that caused so many murders of blacks thru the years using Christianity as a disguise to keep Southerners from doing anything much about it.

[Wounded Bear]

14. Pretty much this....^^^

The physical location of the plotters is kind of immaterial but ObL was a Saudi prince and 19 of 21 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi nationals. No connection there.

The Saudis have been backing terrorists in the ME based on that Wahhabi fundamentalism for many years.

We tolerated (and basically supported) them because of oil profits, plain and simple. The comparison with religious-covered racist terrorism in the American south is spot on.

[Wellstone ruled]

29. You nailed the real Saudi Royals.

To snuff out any rebellion by the Peasant's,they allowed the Wahhabist's to do their thing. Well,that is not working out to well,now it is all about saving their collective asses.

[StoneCarver]

15. If they weren't involved

Why would they care about a law that simply held the guilty responsible? This seems like further proof of something they want to hide. If Americans knew what was in the redacted part of the 9/11 report, we would have gone to war with the real perpetrators.
Stonecarver

[Botany]

16. + 1

Egg Zac Lee ...... if they were not involved then why are they so worried?

[jpak]

17. No spare parts for you - and no new weapons either

yup

[BeanMusical]

20. +1 Well said.

[bemildred]

18. So? nt

[malthaussen]

19. Great! There are innumerable Chinese capitalists lined up to buy! n/t

[valerief]

21. Maybe all the rich U.S. assholes with money stored offshore can buy those assets up.

Of course, they'd have to dip into their hoards.

[Akicita]

22. WTF. How can our government hide foreign government involement from the American

people in the second biggest attack ever on American soil. Can you imagine FDR trying to cover up any Japanese involvement in Pearl Harbor and just blaming it on a group of terrorists?

We need to demand that all those involved or responsible for 911 be brought to justice no matter who they are. What a weak, weak country we are sometimes.

[Coventina]

23. Kiss my ass, KSA.

Fuck you and your terrorist regime.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

24. Die.

I'd like to send them my regards at about 3500ft/sec.

[TexasBushwhacker]

25. Bring it motherfuckers

While we're at it, we'll buy oil from someone else.

[matt819]

26. A clear act of terrorism

In a sense, the 9/11 attacks were acts of economic terrorism. This threat is a far more overt act of economic terrorism.

My response? Release the redacted 28 pages, pass and sign the bill in question, and let the chips fall where they may. In short, call their bluff. No oil. No weapons. Remove bases from Saudi Arabia and states of adjacent allies. Let them deal with the shit storm that the Middle East. And when the proverbial shit hits the fan, I want that photo of George W. Bush french kissing (okay, holding the hand of) the Saudi King. They're the ones responsible for whatever ensues.

I for one am fed up with dancing around this for almost two decades.

[arikara]

54. You mean this one?

And this would be why the Saudis were all flown out when every other plane was grounded everywhere.

[KansDem]

27. Saudi Arabia is running out of water

They have bought huge tracts of land in the US southwest to grow crops using area aquifers; crops that are shipped back to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries are scooping up farmland in drought-afflicted regions of the U.S. Southwest, and that has some people in California and Arizona seeing red.

Saudi Arabia grows alfalfa hay in both states for shipment back to its domestic dairy herds. In another real-life example of the world's interconnected economy, the Saudis increasingly look to produce animal feed overseas in order to save water in their own territory, most of which is desert.

Privately held Fondomonte California on Sunday announced that it bought 1,790 acres of farmland in Blythe, California — an agricultural town along the Colorado River — for nearly $32 million. Two years ago, Fondomont's parent company, Saudi food giant Almarai, purchased another 10,000 acres of farmland about 50 miles away in Vicksburg, Arizona, for around $48 million.

But not everyone likes the trend. The alfalfa exports are tantamount to "exporting water," because in Saudi Arabia, "they have decided that it's better to bring feed in rather than to empty their water reserves," said Keith Murfield, CEO of United Dairymen of Arizona, a Tempe-based dairy cooperative whose members also buy alfalfa. "This will continue unless there's regulations put on it."

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/15/saudi-arabia-buying-up-farmland-in-us-southwest.html

I say fuck 'em--seize their US land and let them eat their oil...

[cprise]

37. +1

[Marty McGraw]

39. and they hoard up

pistachio farms there as well, making them more pricier on us. Best pistachio production world wide

[Sunlei]

60. with all the climate changes/droughts & desertification, America now has land good for pistachios

[turbinetree]

28. I lost my United Airlines Aircraft Mechanic job at Newark (worked on FLT 93)...................

call their bluff...............................if you have nothing to hide, why scream with the threats........................ why the threats? Its a real simple answer............

if you are involved Saud Government, then someone should be held accountable.......................hand them over.............................threats-----------------really

.

We the people run this government, we are not a "kingdom", some may think so.

We don't like to have our democratically elected government interfered with, especially from a foreign government and if this leads to the completion of the Bush War Crime team-------------------so be it---------------------they will finally go to the Hague and anyone else involved.........................

Sell your assets and securities go away........................................


Honk---------------------for a political revolution Bernie 2016

[EdwardBernays]

30. I bet their DC lobbying firm is working around the clock

Which must have be difficult, while the owner of said firm is Chairing Hillary Clinton's campaign.

[JDPriestly]

57. The link:

https://theintercept.com/2015/10/05/saudi-arabia-continues-hire-politically-connected-american-lobbyists-public-relation-firms/

Disgusting!

[EdwardBernays]

58. Thanks

[AgerolanAmerican]

32. and the true nature of the relationship - US as Saudi vassal state - is revealed

We ought to pull out of every military base in that country and cancel every arms contract first thing on Monday morning.

And if they get attacked... applaud.

[rusty fender]

33. The Obama admin. opposes passage of the bill?!

So Obama will veto it if passed? Whose side is he on?

[reddread]

34. a true provocation

if ever a can of whoop ass needed opened.

We need to correct this entanglement.

[cprise]

35. Holy crap

[tclambert]

36. Obviously they made this threat because they are innocent

of providing any support for the 9/11 terrorists. Because that's what innocent people do, is threaten to retaliate for having their innocence revealed.

[Chemisse]

38. So if they were behind the 9/11 attacks,

Not only did we fail to attack them (in favor of Afghanistan, and then Iraq), but we are going to cower in our boots over the fear that we will lose assets?

Sometimes it's really embarrassing to be an American.

[BigBearJohn]

40. This is FUCKING outrageous!!!

[treestar]

41. How can US courts have jurisdiction over a foreign government

Maybe in rem against property but it would have to be property in the US. Owned by the Saudi government, not just random Saudis and Saudi companies.

[smirkymonkey]

42. Suck it, Saudis.

Evil bastards.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

43. Many Many Thanks - RayGun

Carter told us 40 years ago that it would be foolish to pour money into the middle east - he tried

Bush organized opec and got them to kill our economy - and now here we are

[Kang Colby]

44. I'd tell them to blow it out of their a$$.

750 billion is only 1.2% of the total U.S. equity and bond market combined. It often fluctuates more than that on a daily basis and no one on DU even notices....because it doesn't matter.

[Thespian2]

45. Simple response from Congress critters

to the Saudis...PISS OFF...

[blackspade]

46. Someone call them a whambulance.

Their sponsorship of terrorism is catching up to them.

[DinahMoeHum]

47. Neah neah-neah neah booga booga booga.

Fuck the KSA and those diaper-heads who call themselves the royal family.

[Jeb Bartlet]

49. Sounds like blackmail to me.

Considering that almost all of the 911 hijackers were Saudis and that they got help from Saudi government officials to get flight training in the US they should be scared. Perhaps an embargo is in order for Saudi Arabia.

[SusanCalvin]

50. Screw them.

I said a hit to my retirement was worth W losing, didn't work, hit anyway.

Nevertheless, can afford another hit for these jerks to get theirs.

[Fairgo]

51. You can't eat sand

No matter how big your castle is.

[bkkyosemite]

52. Call their bluff and censor them for the cruelty of women and the torture they do every day.

I'm hoping they trip on their nightgowns and we don't hear from them again....only plane to leave on 9/11 the Saudi's.....family of Osama.

[glinda]

53. but but...they might quit giving to certain Foundations...

[nikto]

56. Typical stuff, here ... (for Hillary and the Saudis)

http://www.ibtimes.com/clinton-foundation-donors-got-weapons-deals-hillary-clintons-state-department-1934187

[AxionExcel]

59. Wonder if this will put a KINK in the BFEE's Republican treasure chest?

[Sunlei]

61. all comes down to we Americans need to see the proof of who paid, what they paid, and who was paid.

Seems silly to me for any of our Elected (our RW republicans?) to draft a Federal bill to try to 'attach'* trillions in costs of 9/11 to ANY country.

*attach means shut down all banking for the 'attached' Country across the entire USA. Can understand why SA would be pissed off and why Obama would never sign such a bill.

Republicans waste so much time on their stupid showboat bills.

[Odin2005]

62. The Saudis can go fuck themselves.

A bunch of backward bedouin barbarians who got lucky with oil.